Trials set for September in separate slayings

EVERETT — September trial dates were set Monday for two Snohomish County men charged in separate homicides.

Alan Smith and Brian Perez Reyes both made their first court appearances since being charged with murder late last week. They both pleaded not guilty.

Smith is accused of beating, stabbing and drowning his estranged wife, Susann Smith, in February. Prosecutors allege that the Boeing engineer carefully planned the attack on his wife and took extensive efforts to cover up his involvement. The couple was engaged in a bitter divorce. Susann Smith, 37, had custody of the couple’s two children and was living in the family home.

Alan Smith is accused of attacking his wife as she slept. Prosecutors allege she was beaten with a mallet and stabbed. They have accused the defendant of dragging her into the bathroom and holding her down in the tub. Water found in her lungs indicated that Susann Smith was alive when she was held underwater.

Alan Smith is charged with first-degree murder. He is being held on $1 million bail.

Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson on Monday again asked that Smith be required to give the county clerk at least $100,000 in cash or other collateral before being able to post bail.

Bothell police investigators attended the hearing. Absent was Smith’s new girlfriend, Love Thai, who repeatedly has shared details about the couple’s relationship with reporters and via social media. She reportedly told people she and Smith were planning to leave the country.

Meanwhile, bail was kept at $2 million for the man accused of murdering his 2-year-old son last month. The defendant’s attorney objected, saying that her client isn’t a flight risk or a danger to the community. The infant’s mother also asked that bail be lowered for Perez Reyes, saying people who know the Everett man know he isn’t a danger to children.

Prosecutors told the judge that Perez Reyes remains under investigation for a separate domestic violence incident involving the mother of his other infant child.

Perez Reyes, 23, is charged with second-degree murder. Investigators believe he violently shook his infant son, causing a fatal brain injury. The defendant reportedly brought his lifeless son to the emergency room on June 28. Doctors were able to resuscitate Daniel Perez Reyes, but noted that there was no brain activity. He died the next day.

The defendant told police a couple different stories about what happened to his son. He first said he accidentally dropped Daniel, but later demonstrated how he moved the boy back and forth, which indicated to detectives that he’d shaken the baby, court papers said.

Perez Reyes had told a doctor that it was the first time that his son stayed overnight with him.

The doctor reported hearing a relative yell at Perez Reyes: “Every time you have the baby something happens to him!”